Sweet Child of Mine
by SirDigby
Summary: Xena and Autolicous accidently get thrown back in time and find themselves endangering everything they hold dear, especially the future life of one certain blond bard who they meet under very unusual circumstances.
1. Prologue

_**Sweet Child of Mine**_  
A "Xena: Warrior Princess" fan-fiction

**Prologue**  
"Autolycus, come on!" Xena shouted into thin air. "I haven't got all day."  
"Go away Xena, you're interrupting my beauty sleep."  
Xena sighed and looked around her. Where the hell was he?  
"Come on, Autolycus, Hercules told me you stole it. Again"  
"What? No way, I worked hard to get that stone!"  
Xena looked behind the altar and some of the statues. If there's one person who could still trick her, it was Autolycus. But even he couldn't outsmart her forever.  
"Autolycus, tempering with time is dangerous. You remember what happened last time!"  
"How would you know about last time?" he replied mockingly  
"Hercules told me" she said even more mockingly than him. "Come on, Autolycus, Gabrielle is waiting for me and I'm already half a day late."  
"How is Blondie, by the way?" Autolycus asked as if they were having a nice little conversation over a cup of tea.  
"She's fine, you know, she's torn between the greater good and personal justice – romans, countrymen, that sort of thing."  
"Ah, the usual then, that's nice. How're you doing?"  
"You know: Warlords, personal justice, saving Gabrielle from trouble, getting your ass down from the ceiling."  
"Ah, how… Wait a second, did you say?"  
"Come down here Autolycus" Xena looked up and saw the green-dressed thief hung upside down from the ceiling bars.  
"Come on, Xena" Autolycus pleaded and slowly descended towards her, still hanging on to his grapple. "It's only a stone; we both know I've stolen… I mean… 'Artistically removed' more valuable things in the past."  
Xena smiled "The past is exactly the issue here, it's not just any ordinary stone you've… 'Artistically removed' this time."  
"Yeah, well," Autolycus smiled and took a couple of steps back. "I'm not just an ordinary thief…" He extended his grapple again. "I am the king of thieves!" he threw it out a window and flew right out, yodeling away.  
Xena sighed, took out her Chakram, and threw it out the window. The Chakram flew straight through Autolycus' cable, and then hit a tree.  
Slowly Xena walked out of the Temple and walked with an innocent face towards the grounded Autolycus, whistling a nice little tune.  
"Oh, I'm sorry; did my Chakram hit your grapple? I could have sworn I was aiming at that bird."  
"Very funny" he got up and cleaned himself. "You almost killed me with that thing."  
"I'm stunned with sorrow, now give me the stone."  
"What stone?"  
"Come on, Autolycus, you don't want me to keep Gabrielle waiting, now do you?"  
"Yeah, well, the kid can take of her self, and…"  
"Autolycus… if I don't return by sundown, this Warrior Princess is going to have one very angry Amazon Queen to deal with. Now you see, when the queen gets angry, she gets irritating. And when the queen gets irritating, well… You don't want to be the one to take the fault, trust me."  
"What's the hurry Xena?" Autolycus smiled and took out the Chronos Stone. "Time, is on our side" he started rubbing it. "Or should I say… My side?"  
"Autolycus!" Xena jumped on him and took the stone from his hand.  
"Come on, Xena!" he grabbed it back, and now they were both battling over it.  
"Autolycus, this is…" Xena now had the stone.  
"Mine, and it'll stay this way" Autolycus snatched it away again.  
"If anything, it's Chronos'"  
"But Chronos is dead, now isn't he?"  
"Don't get technical on me!"  
"That's funny, coming from you!"  
"What do you mean by that?"  
"Come on, Xena, like you don't know!"  
"Ahm… Autolycus… why is the stone lighting up?"  
"Oh please, you really thought I'd fall for a trick as old as…"  
"Autolycus, the stone! It's glowing!"  
"Oh no, not again!"


	2. Part 1: Times and Places

_**Part 1 – Times and Places**_

**Chapter 1: Lost Somewhere in Time**

It was a beautiful morning. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and everything seemed quiet and pastoral. Xena didn't like it.  
"Where are we?" Xena looked around.  
"I don't know, but don't be surprised if your younger self comes running 'round the corner."  
"You want to tell me we're actually in the past?"  
"Well, either that, or that was the worst hang-over ever."  
"Well, can't you undo it?" Xena seemed furious.  
"Well, I could," Autolycus looked embarrassed. "Only I can't. I don't have it."  
"What do you mean, you don't have it?"  
"I lost the stone" he said. "It's not on me, the gods only know where it landed. Probably nearby though."  
"Ah, great." Xena sighed. "I told you this sort of thing would happen, Autolycus, time is not some…"  
"Yeah, Yeah, spare me the lecture for later, right now we've got to figure out where we are. Or when, actually, I'm not even sure for certain that this is the past. It could even be the future."  
"Great, just what I needed, jumping forward in times twenty years or so…"  
"Well, at least you're not alone" he said. "You could always use the help of a professional."  
"Likewise" she started walking towards a road that wasn't too far from them.  
"Ouch" he hung his hands on his belt. "I might have to take that as a compliment."   
"You do that" she didn't even turn to him this time.  
"Come on, Xena, wait up!"

"I know this place" Xena said when to arrived to a near-by town. "It's a little different, but… Yes! It's Potedia!"  
"Potedia? Isn't that Gabrielle's… Slutty mother of Zeus, Xena, wait up!"  
"It's different from when I remember it. I'd say earlier. I think we're in the past, Autolycus."  
"That's great" Autolycus said. "But I have to warn you; merely our presence here is a danger."  
"When did you become the lecturer?" she gave him a suspicious look.  
"Well, I've done Time Travel before, Xena, trust me, I know a thing or two about it" he tucked his shirt to his belt and looked around nervously. "Come on, we can't let anyone see us" he then suddenly took her aside and they hid in one of the alleys. "Especially not Gabrielle, if she's even born yet."  
"For once, Autolycus, you're making total and responsible sense."  
"We must disguise ourselves" he looked around at some laundry hanging about.  
"I should have seen it coming… Spending more than a couple of minutes with you" she said and peeked again outside the alley. "Still no sign of Gabrielle", she said.  
"Good" Autolycus replied and emerged from behind a hung sheet all dressed up as a farmer.  
"Nice costume" she laughed.  
"It'll help us blend in" he seemed a little uncomfortable out of his utility-packed green vest.  
"Great" she said. "What will I be wearing?"  
"This little thing" he took out a piece of cloth that could hardly be classified as underwear and gave her a wide wheel-girl smile.  
"Couldn't you have picked out anything with a little less… Ahm… Cleavage?"  
"Are you kidding me?" he studied her usual leather and metal wear. "Look at what you're wearing now!"  
"Touché!" she went behind the hung bed sheet and changed, suddenly realizing that she left her Chakram back at the… Future. Then again, it was probably for the best.  
"It's just the right size" she said as she was dressing. "How did you know?"  
"In my profession, Xena, there are certain things you just have to know" he laughed.  
"You mean things like the size of my underwear? I'd think you were a little more mature than that."  
"Well, you'd never know when such data could come in handy" he smiled. "For example, say I wanted to get your little friend a birthday present and..."  
"If you appreciate your life, Autolycus, you will not finish that sentence. And Gabrielle's not little!"  
"You'd know!"  
Xena was almost embarrassed. "Well apparently, so would you. Ok, I'm done."  
Xena slowly walked outside from behind the curtain.  
"Xena…" Autolycus said. "The purpose of these costumes is to help us go unnoticed… Now how do you plan to achieve that looking all so… Staggering?"  
Xena caught her breath for a second. "My, my…" she smiled to wear off the blush.  
"Autolycus King of Thieves! Was that a compliment you just threw my way?"  
"Well… I…"  
"Thank you" she said with a warm smile, unlike the cynical type she'd usually give him. A moment passed, and she was the first to speak.  
"Come on" she said. "Let's move."

**Chapter 2 - Ransom**  
"People of Potedia" a man stood up in the market. "This is your last chance. Pay us the fee by sundown, and live. Refuse, and… Well… You can kiss your nice little village goodbye!"  
Xena looked around her. People were gathering around in the market where the man has just made his announcement. He was wearing black leather uniform, probably some warlord's. Her basic instincts told her to find out more and help those people rid of these warlords, but she couldn't risk changing something in the course of history. After all, whatever's going to happen, it happened without their interference, and Potedia stood still when she first got there, and met Gabrielle. No. She can't interfere.  
"Autolycus, take a look at this" Xena looked around to notice her companion wasn't there. "Autolycus?"  
Autolycus suddenly showed up running.  
"What are you up to?" she asked him.  
"I went to take care of some business, you know" he said.  
"Autolycus, you said yourself not to mess around with…"  
"Chill it, tall-black, I went to do what men and occasionally I believe even women have to do."  
"Autolycus, I hope you mean the outhouse, or I'll…"  
"What's this all about?" he interrupted.  
"Nothing that concerns us" she said. "Some warlord has Potedia under siege for protection fees."  
"As you said, nothing that concerns us" Autolycus said in his usual self-assured tone. "I'm glad you're finally starting to see things my way, Xena."  
"I'm not… Of course I want to help them, but as you said yourself, I can't. We could still ask around, though."  
"Right" Autolycus said. "Well you do that. I'm gonna look around to see if anyone knows anything about the Chronos Stone."  
"Right" Xena said. "We'll meet in the outskirts at sundown."  
Xena approached an old lady standing nearby. "Excuse me,"  
"Oh hello there" the old lady smiled at the Xena, talking in a very loud voice. "You're new in town, aren't you?"  
"Well, no, I mean yes, I mean…"  
"You'll have to speak up, dear, my hearing is a little impaired."  
"Oh. Well, my husband and I are just passing through on our way to Thebes" Xena spoke as clear as she could.  
"Oh, that's nice" the old lady smiled. "How are you enjoying our peaceful little village?"  
"Very much, it's very nice, thank you" Xena smiled. "Listen, I couldn't help but to noticed that dirty looking man talking about some… fee?"  
"Oh, yes" the woman said. "A protection fee."  
"Do you think they're going to pay it?" Xena asked.  
"Well, dear, we don't quite have as much money or goods as this dirty warlord would want us to pay, but we do have one valuable treasure."  
"A treasure"? Xena said to herself.  
"No, a treasure" The lady said quite loudly, obviously mishearing what Xena had said. "The Amulet of Nightwishers. It's pretty valuable, could save our skins and please that dreadful warlord."  
"Oh, alright then. Thank you."  
"Enjoy your stay" the old woman shouted back.  
Xena rushed around the village to find Autolycus. The Amulet of Nightwishers wasn't something powerful or important, just financially valuable – merely an old artifact made of solid gold and some gems. As the old lady said, the Potedians would probably pay their protection fee with it, and everything will go as history told it did. In any case, Autolycus would have probably found the Chronos stone by now, had it been here in Potedia. He always had a talent of finding rare artifacts like that.

"So, did you find it?" Xena asked Autolycus as she met him outside of the village.  
"Nada, it's not here, I searched everywhere" he replied.  
"Come on, we better set up camp" she said and started walking down the road. Autolycus just stared at her.  
"Are you coming?" She turned to him  
"Ha? Oh, Yeah, Yeah, camp. I'm dying to get out of these clothes."  
"I hear ya."  
"Hey, at least you look good in yours!"  
"Yeah, well, I think you look quite good yourself."  
"Why thank you, Xena, it's just part of the Autolycus charm, if I may say so myse…"  
"Shut up."  
"Right."

**Chapter 3 - A Change for the Worse  
**"Autolycus, I gotta give it to ya, I never thought you were much of a cook."  
"Well, I'm not" he said. "Just caught me a nice lil' animal and put it on the grill."  
"Ah" Xena nodded and chewed on her... animal, not daring to even ask what animal it was. They set up their camp in a bold spot in the forest, quite far from Potedia. Autolycus volunteered to catch and cook dinner, and Xena brought the fire-woods.  
"First thing tomorrow" Xena said between bites. "We go on to the nearest town beside of Potedia to see if anyone there has heard anything about the stone."  
"Right" Autolycus nodded. "I'm sure it's not too far away."  
"Yeah" Xena said and seemed to have been thinking of something. "Say, Autolycus, how do we know that the stone is actually in one of the towns? You said yourself, it could be anywhere."  
"I know that stone, Xena" Autolycus sounded as if the stone and him were old friends, which wasn't entirely untrue. "If it didn't come back with us in time, it means it wanted to be someplace else, which would probably be a town or a temple or something of that sort. It wouldn't just teleport to someplace random.  
"The stone has its own will?" Xena seemed interested, though not at all surprised.  
"Sort of, Yeah" Autolycus went back to his bar-b-qued something.  
Several moments passed and neither of them spoke. Xena came to realize that she and Autolycus always had this sarcasm-based work relationship, but when it came to just sitting down next to a fire place and talking over dinner, they just hadn't much to talk about. It was only then that Xena realized how much of her pre-bedtime chats with Gabrielle were actually due to Gabrielle's talkative nature… Gabrielle sure does like to talk…  
Xena smiled with bemusement of her own analysis, and then Autolycus looked up at her.  
"You know" he said. "I figured we must be more than 30 years in the past."  
"How'd ya figure that?" she didn't seem too impressed.  
"Well, I met someone from Amphipolis earlier today."  
"You what?" she suddenly dropped her food.  
"Yeah" he said. "Someone who came from Amphipolis for his cousin's wedding or something, I didn't bother to ask much."  
"So you think we're more than 30 years in the past, because…"  
"Because he's never heard of you" Autolycus said. "I figured anyone from Amphipolis would have at least known you if we would have gone any later than when you were born."  
"Autolycus, you asked someone from Amphipolis if he knew me? You know how dangerous that can be for… History?"  
"I didn't ask him in so many words, I just…"  
"Never mind that" she said. "Besides, maybe I'm already born but… I'm just very young."  
"No, see," he said. "He didn't know your mother either."  
"Autolycus!"  
"What harm could it do to ask him about your mother?"  
"Never mind" she sighed. "You're probably right though. If he didn't know my mother it must have been before she moved in to Amphipolis."  
"So this would be what, forty years in the past?"  
"Forty? How old do you think I am?"  
"What? Didn't your mother move in before you were born?"  
"Well, Yeah, but you said…" she was going to complete that sentence, but just then they heard a loud scream in the distance.  
"What the…" Autolycus and Xena stood up and suddenly noticed that the skies above Potedia were lit scarlet.  
"They're attacking Potedia" Xena grabbed her sword and started running.  
"Wait a minute, Xena!" Autolycus followed her. "What about the natural course of… Ah, bloody Tartarus! WAIT UP!"

As they approached Potedia, the screaming pandemonium intensified.  
"What the hell is going on?" Xena said to Autolycus as they were just outside of the village.  
"They must've scrammed that protection fee" Autolycus stopped running and looked around. "Listen Xena, we mustn't go any further. Whatever's going on, it's part of the history of Potedia."  
"I don't think so" Xena turned with an angry face to Autolycus. "From what I know of Potedia, this never happened. We must have done something to change history."  
"And we want to mess with it any further?" Autolycus seemed even more worried than Xena would have expected him to be.  
Xena didn't even reply but instead just ran into the village, looking around. The place was swarming with soldiers, and the villagers were all running around, trying to find a place to hide. She drew her sword and all of a sudden several soldiers were running at her. Xena jumped over the first one and hit him in the back with her elbow, while kicking a second soldier coming her way. Before she knew it, arrows were flying in her direction. She caught the first, ducked to evade the second, and deflected the third with her sword. She took a look at Autolycus but he seemed to have handled himself pretty well. Autolycus took Xena's side and the soldiers now attacked him as well. He ducked, rolled, and virtually danced around them, hitting them down in the process.  
"Nice work" Xena smiled at him and surveyed the soldiers lying unconscious on the ground.  
"Not so bad there with that sword, either" Autolycus smiled back and they ran to find out what was going on.  
"They couldn't find the Amulet" the old lady with whom Xena was speaking earlier suddenly ran to them.  
"What do you mean, couldn't find it?" Xena asked.  
"It was stolen before we ever got the chance to pay the fee!"  
Xena turned her head at Autolycus, giving him a somewhat questioning and somewhat blaming look.  
"Xena, for once, could you give me some credit? It's just a worthless piece junk."  
"Worthless? Come on, Autolycus!"  
"I didn't do it, Xena" Autolycus said firmly. "Even I have my standards."  
"What, nothing below 'mystical artifacts'?"  
"No, Xena, but we're in Potedia! Gabrielle's home town! I wouldn't want anything to happen to the kid any more than you would!"  
"You really didn't do it" she suddenly realized she was too harsh with him.  
"Could it have…? I mean… Would it have…?" Autolycus shook his head, confused by the problematic lingual tense of time-travel.  
"In our future, could it have happened anyway without you knowing about it?"  
"I don't know, but I doubt it" she replied. "Let's look around to see if anything highly improbable happens, maybe they'll survive after all."  
"Let's split up then, we'll catch less attention that way" Autolycus said and started running.  
"Right" Xena ran to the other direction. She saved a couple of villagers from occasional arrows, thinking to herself that she was certain that none of this happened on their original timeline anyway, so she might as well try to help as many of them as she could. Then she saw in the distance two villagers being torn out of their house by four men. She started running towards them, and from the distance could see the two villagers trying to resist. The woman seemed to have been trying to go back inside the house, screaming something Xena couldn't understand, but the men wouldn't let her. Before she knew what was going on, the house was on fire and the woman started crying.  
Xena was now finally in battling distance and two of the marauders came towards her. She stabbed one with her sword, and kicked the other to the ground. A third marauder came towards her, and she kicked him down as well. The fourth soldier, holding the woman, just let her go and ran away. The woman immediately stood up and started running towards the burning house, but Xena stopped her.  
"No, no! You can't go in there!" she held her back.  
"My baby!" The woman yelled and tried to resist Xena's firm grip of her arms.  
"There's a child in there?" Xena looked at the burning house with shock. "Stay here!"  
The woman nodded and Xena ran into the inferno. Inside the house it was as hot as hell, and Xena tried not to breath. For just a second, between the engulfing flames and the sound of crackling wood she could hear the faint and helpless cries of a baby. She followed the cries to another room, kicked the door down and shielded her eyes as sparks flew everywhere. In the farthest corner of the room she saw a baby lying inside a cradle. Xena ran to the baby, picked him up gently, and wrapped the blanket around him so that the smoke didn't go into his breath. The house was about to collapse, so she held him tight and ran out of the room and towards the front door. The house began to cave in as the walls could no longer support themselves, and so Xena jumped out the door and rolled on the floor, keeping the baby perfectly safe.  
Xena looked up and gasped. In front of her, she now saw the villagers both lying dead on the ground and a man standing above them with a bloody sword in his hand and a wicked look in his eyes.  
He was a general, she could tell by the colors on his shoulder. And he just murdered this baby's parents in cold blood. In a burst of rage Xena used her free hand to draw her sword and throw it straight at the murderer's chest, knocking him cold and dead to the ground next to the two villagers he had just slaughtered.  
Xena stood there for a moment, and the scene began to sink in. There were burning remains of a house behind her, a burning town in front of her, two innocent dead villagers at her feet, and an infant orphan of war in her arms. Had she not seen such horrors before, she would have definitely broken down in tears. But she was stronger than that. She had to be.  
Suddenly, the woman villager raised her head and stared at her. Xena was at first startled when she realized that the woman wasn't dead.  
"My child!" the woman hissed.  
"Here" Xena kneeled before the woman gently. "Your baby's fine."  
Xena thought she saw the dying woman smile through the blood, tears and mud that covered her face.  
"You must take care of… my baby" the woman could hardly extract her final dying words.  
"I… I don't…" Xena didn't know what to say. Her throat was choked with tears.  
"You must take care… take care - of my baby!" the woman said and slowly lay her head back. "You must… take care of… Ga… Gabrielle."****


	3. Part 2: Investigations

**_Part 2 - Investigations _**

Chapter 1 – Breaking Down, Summing Out

Xena looked froze in shock. There must be some mistake here.  
"Xena," Autolycus showed up running. Xena didn't respond, and just kept staring at the two dead villagers.  
"Xena, we have to go."  
Xena slowly removed the towel she covered the baby's face with, and of course the baby was crying loudly.  
"Hey, come on, Xena, they're burning down the village, we have to do something."  
"I have to get out of here" Xena suddenly said.  
"You have to what?" Autolycus was astounded by the Warrior Princess' sudden lack of interest in the welfare of the village.  
"Autolycus, I have to get out of here" she looked up at him with teary eyes. Autolycus didn't know what to say, but as he looked into her eyes he saw the despair she was in. He also thought he knew what happened, but he couldn't be sure. And besides, this wasn't the time. The mere sight of Xena, holding a baby in her hands, crying… It was enough for him.  
"Go" he said. "Get out of here, Xena; I'll take care of this."  
Xena nodded, and without a word just pulled the baby closer to her chest and started running. Autolycus knew that the last look she gave him before she ran off said thank you. He also knew that the same look said something was terribly wrong, and as he looked around he saw two dead villagers lying on the ground, lit in scarlet waves of light – emerging from the flames that were slowly consuming the entire village. Next to the two slain villager lay a soldier with Xena's sword stuck in his chest, and Autolycus could only assume what went on there before he arrived. He took out the sword from the soldier's chest and examined it. Xena would never have just forgotten her sword. Not Xena. Whatever it was that made her run off like that, it must have been related to that baby.  
That baby was orphaned in front of Xena's eyes, and although Autolycus figured that would be a difficult picture for anyone, he knew that Xena's been through worse.  
No, it wasn't that, he thought. It had to be more, much more than just that. Autolycus thought again of the look that Xena gave him when she said she had to get out of there. He recalled how when Xena's spirit occupied his body, he felt what she felt, and learned to read her. And now, as Xena gave him that look with the baby in her arms, he knew that Xena was feeling shattered in a way that could only mean that whatever it was that happened – it had to do with Gabrielle.  
He just hoped that the baby wasn't Gabrielle herself, but he knew that he was hoping against all hope – Xena's confused and heart-breaking look said it all. The fact that suddenly the baby was more important to Xena than the village also was cutting proof that the baby was indeed Gabrielle.  
Autolycus looked down again at Xena's sword, and then at the two dead villagers who he now realized were Gabrielle's parents. He looked around him at the turmoil of the flames, at the screaming people, at the burning town, at the dead people…  
He then raised Xena's sword in front of him and examined the stains of blood. Looking down at the dead soldier, and then again at the two dead villagers, he dropped the sword from his hand as he fell back in shock and suddenly realized what has happened - It was all his fault! It's gone too far! What has he done? 

Xena ran.  
With the young child in her hands, she ran as far as she could. She wasn't even sure why she was still running, as Potedia was far behind them now, but still she ran.  
She ran until she couldn't see the flames anymore. She ran until she couldn't hear the screams anymore. She wanted to run until she could no longer see the dead villagers in her mind anymore, but she got tired of running long before that ever would have happened.  
She looked again at the child. The baby fit the description perfectly; Blond hair, green dreamy eyes, wide cheeks. And she didn't shut up for a second. Not that Xena could blame her this time, but still – it was just another sign that perhaps this was indeed Gabrielle.  
Xena thought back. The house was Gabrielle's house, and the villagers were Gabrielle's parents, although she never knew them well enough to have recognized their faces so many years younger.  
Still two mysteries remained: Xena would have been about 12 or 13 at this point, and as far as she knew by that point everybody in Amphipolis knew either her or her mother. And Autolycus said he spoke to someone from Amphipolis who's never heard of neither. The second mystery was of course – how did all of this happen? It was obvious that it had something to do with Xena and Autolycus' arrival at Potedia, but Xena couldn't think of anything in particular that would have triggered such a thing. She only spoke with one person other than Autolycus, and that was that deaf woman who told her rather loudly about the Amulet of the Nightwishers.  
Of course, how didn't she think of it earlier? Someone must've heard them talk about it, and then stole it.  
Xena's line of thought was interrupted as the baby started crying.  
"Shh" Xena smiled at her. "It'll be alright, I promise you."  
The baby just kept on crying, and Xena felt helpless.  
She hugged her and started to rock her gently back and forth, and gently sang:

**_Hush now my little one, please don't you cry  
Lay your head now on my shoulder and sigh  
The sun's gone away, and mama will pray  
Silence will keep all awhile you're asleep_**

Hush now my little child, do not despair  
Not even an army could make us unpair  
Not even the gods or heaven or hell,  
Could take you away from me, Gabrielle.

It worked. The baby fell sound asleep, and Xena just looked at her face and smiled.  
Things were pretty messed up.  
Xena knew there was only one being she could trust, but she had to get to her temple first.

In the meantime Autolycus did the same math as Xena, and came to the conclusion that something was crooked in the air. How could someone from Amphipolis know neither Xena nor Cyrene?  
Furthermore, who could have stolen the Amulet, and why?  
And what troubled him the most was how it all happened. How come their mere arrival to Potedia made somebody else, who they probably didn't even know, steal the Amulet and create all this chaos?  
Autolycus got onto his feet. It was time to stop wallowing and start investigating. Being a master-thief gives one many skills that are useful for investigative work. Autolycus had a sharp eye for details and supreme analytic skills, but most importantly, he was going to investigate an act of thievery – and he was, after all, the king of thieves.  
Autolycus ran to the town hall, figuring that that's probably where the Amulet would have been before it was stolen. The town hall was the only building that wasn't burning up, but that was probably due to the fact that it was made of stone. He squeezed himself through a low side-window, and found himself in a cellar. A look around showed nothing but a couple of scrolls, probably archived city-documents, some hardware, and other barred windows. Autolycus looked again at the window he came in through, and realized that since that was the only window without bars on it, that is where the thief probably came in and out from. He approached the window again, and saw that the bars were actually removed by force. Not even he could just pull out bars out of a stone window like that. Only a god could do it. Then again, a god would not need to go through the bars, he could just teleport himself. He figured it was probably a half-god, like Hercules, only he wasn't sure how old exactly Hercules was at this point. It probably wasn't Hercules anyway, so it didn't matter. Autolycus also noticed that the window was too high to climb through, and there was nothing beneath it that could be used for leverage, so the thief probably used another escape route, although that wasn't all that important. Autolycus tried to imagine how he would have stolen the Amulet. He would not have even gone through the windows; he would have probably found his way through the main entrance, which probably didn't have much security - if at all. This was, after all, only Potedia, not Athens. Which brings him to another question – why?  
The Amulet of the Nightwishers was a worthless piece of crap. It was valuable, yes, but not for a thief. It didn't have any mystical powers, it had not historical value, and stealing it was like taking candy from a baby that doesn't like candy anyway. There was neither the challenge nor the prestige a self respected thief would look for in an act of thievery. He could only presume that either it wasn't a self respected thief, or that whoever stole the Amulet wanted to rage chaos in Potedia. And, of course, there was the option that whoever it was that stole it just really needed the money.  
**  
Chapter 2 – Sweet Love of Mine**  
Xena entered the temple of Aphrodite with somewhat of a bewilderment. It was odd. Aphrodite didn't know her yet, and it made Xena feel somewhat inferior to her, as if again they weren't just friends, but that Xena was a mere mortal, and Aphrodite was a goddess in all her glory.  
Xena had never felt inferior to any god before. She faced some herself, and even battled one (among other things she did with him), and still, now she felt frightened of Aphrodite's glory.  
Maybe it was the temple – as it was high and intimidating, yet very colorful, and Xena would even have to admit it was even a little gay. Maybe it was the fact that she was holding a child in her arms that made her a little submissive to the glorification effect the temple was designed to apply. She still didn't grasp the fact that the baby was in fact Gabrielle. She knew it, but she still thought of her just as "a baby".  
The baby was calm now, for maybe the first or second time ever since they left Potedia.  
Xena wondered if Aphrodite would help her. She and Gabrielle after all do become close friends later on. Or do they?  
Xena couldn't help but to think what would happen now. Gabrielle's life would have changed immensely due to all that has happened. Xena thought about it for a second and realized that whatever it was, it didn't affect her meeting Gabrielle, or else she wouldn't have known her now. Then again, how can she know that this was never supposed to happen if it just did, which would have supposed to make her think that it was supposed to happen?  
This was too confusing. Time Travel is much too incomprehensible – Zeus was wise to disallow it. She thought maybe meeting Aphrodite wasn't a wise idea either, but it didn't matter anymore. Xena didn't care about anything anymore. Not history, not anything. All she cared about was Gabrielle and her welfare, and there was no other person she knew in this time that could take care of Gabrielle. A thought emerged in the back of her mind to take Gabrielle to Amphipolis and put her at the doorstep of her own house. She had no doubt that her mother would take Gabrielle into her own care, but she couldn't risk meeting herself or her mother, and besides, the thought of growing up as Gabrielle's sister made her feel all awkward.  
Xena sighed and cleared all thought from her mind. She kneeled down in front of the altar and looked up at it. A statue of Aphrodite was in the middle of it, showing her in all of her glory, covered with only a couple of flowers. The statue, that is, the figure itself was of course completely naked.  
That's just like her, Xena thought.  
Focus Xena, Focus.  
"Aphrodite" Xena recited. "Goddess of Love - hear me, O-Glorious divinity who has blessed us with her grace, and gave us the gift of love."  
The baby made giggled and Xena looked down at it and saw it was smiling at her. Xena smiled back and looked back up.  
"O-Goddess, please appear before me – I have no sacrifice to give you but the sacrifice of love"  
Xena looked back at the baby, and again at the altar. Nothing happened. Xena sighed. Aphrodite didn't know her, and wouldn't appear before her for just like that.  
"O-Goddess, please appear before me – I have nothing to offer you but the love I have for this woma… Child"  
Still no response.  
"Aphrodite, please" Xena stood back on her feet and looked at the statue in eye-height.  
"I don't take human sacrifice" suddenly Xena heard Aphrodite's voice from behind her. She turned and saw Aphrodite in her casual pink gown.  
"Aphrodite" Xena walked closer to her but Aphrodite took a step back herself.  
"Honey, I don't know what the deal with the baby is, but I have a no-return policy" Aphrodite smirked.  
"No… Aphrodite, you must…"  
"And what's with the leather, girl? Last I checked Butch was as out as the Titans."  
"Aphrodite, you must listen to me" Xena said, and Aphrodite suddenly wore a worried and serious look.  
"You don't know me, but I know you."  
"Well who doesn't?" Aphrodite almost seemed offended.  
"No, I mean, personally, we're… We were…. We're going to be..."  
"Honey, I'm the goddess of love, not the goddess of babbling – spit it out."  
"Aphrodite, I need you to take care of this baby" she presented the baby to the goddess.  
"You _**WHAT**_?"  
"I know it sounds weird, but you have to believe me" Xena's eyes were glimmering. "I love this child!"  
Aphrodite was tempted to ask if not all mothers love their babies, but something felt weird about this one. The love she sensed the strangely leathered woman had for the baby was different from the love a mother has for her child. She couldn't put her finger exactly on what it was.  
"You don't belong here, do you?" she asked Xena. "Neither does she."  
"No, she doesn't" Xena said. "Listen, you're the only one I can trust, the only one who can take care of her. Please, Aphrodite, until I can sort things out, please - take care of her!" Xena pleaded and started to choke up.  
"I trust you" Aphrodite said. "Your love for her is sincere."  
Aphrodite didn't say it, but she also sensed that the love the woman had for the child was stronger than anything she possible could be responsible for. She suspected it was something stronger than gods and their spells. It wasn't the first time she has encountered that kind of love. She suspected that it was something that the powers that be, the powers stronger than her, have originated. She would have to ask around Olympus about the more primal powers, maybe she'll find the answer there.  
"Thank you" Xena said. "I'll try to sort things out, and if all goes well, then… We'll meet again."  
Aphrodite didn't understand what she was talking about, but she figured it was another part of the mystery she would have to solve. This could get interesting, she thought. Like a detective game.  
Xena slowly gave the baby to Aphrodite, and seemed as if she couldn't part from her. She felt responsible for her. She felt worried, she felt torn away from her. It reminded her of how she felt when she had to give Solan away, but it was still different. She couldn't tell how. She wasn't sure. She just looked again at the baby, kissed her on the forehead, and left the temple.  
Outside the temple Xena stopped and looked back. She saw Aphrodite holding the baby in her arms, and looking at it.  
"Goodbye, Gabrielle" she said. "We'll meet again, I promise you."  
She also promised herself.


End file.
